Head was the first major brand to jump on board the carving revolution, and it continues to invest a little more shape than the norm in every recreational ski it makes. The Super Joy is the top pure carver in Head’s Joy collection of women’s skis, with a tidy 12.5m sidecut radius that could make slalom turns in its sleep. Unlike the top carvers in the men’s Frontside fold, the Super Joy is almost insanely light. It can weigh almost nothing and still earn better Power scores than most skis in the genre because of its unique carbon, Koroyd and Graphene composition. Three hundred times stronger than steel for its weight, Graphene can be tactically deployed along the ski’s length to modify flex and rigidity, creating all the support lightweight skiers need.
Sometimes it seems every new model in the Age of Lighter is Better is being made for some pixie who can’t bend a real ski. Put a big man who knows how to motivate down the hill on one of these weak reeds and it will fold like a $5 lawn chair. So it was interesting to read the comments of Corty Lawrence, a full-sized dude (and one of the best boot fitters of his, or any other, generation) when we pried him off the i.Speed Pro after several scorching runs. To compress Corty’s impressions into an aphorism Yoda might utter, “Total commitment yields total reward.” If you know where the accelerator is and aren’t afraid to stomp on it, you’re the target pro for the i.Speed Pro.
The i.Speed’s receptivity to arcing with a light rein masks a thoroughbred’s temperament that longs to charge the fall line. Only speed reveals its special skill: it responds to loading by slinging the ski forward, rather than popping off the snow and – perish the thought – losing continuous snow contact. The extra energy comes from piezoelectric fibers that stiffen the tail when stimulated by high-velocity vibrations. Matt Finnegan from Footloose cautions, “This ski isn’t for everyone. It’s very technical, but that being said, it’s technically rewarding.” The i.Speed makes a better mogul manipulator than you might expect for ski with so much shape: the tip conforms to sudden terrain changes and the tail won’t wilt under any circumstances.
The Supershape series is an unmatched collection of carving machines, and the i.Magnum is the shapeliest of them all, with a 59mm drop between its tip and waist dimensions, creating a turn radius (13.1m @ 170cm) tighter than that of a World Cup slalom. The slight early rise in its shovel is shallower than the same feature on the i.Rally or i.Titan, so the i.Magnum behaves more like a fully cambered ski than a rockered one. It doesn’t just like to carve; it insists on it. If you want to moderate its mongoose-quick reflexes, consider getting it in a longer length; if you’d prefer to accentuate its short-turn expertise, stick with the shorter length you’d normally use for a Technical ski.
